Headlines for Friday 10-26-2007

Iraqis Try to Defuse Tension With Turkey
If tensions continue, will add stuffing and cranberry sauce

Pair Get Hitched at Ohio Haunted House
Couple plan to honeymoon in Ohio Scary Senate

You can have a personal chef
Most people just call her Mom

Ghosts, Vacuums and Other Childhood Terrors
And yet I have never seen a child dress as a Hoover Upright for Halloween

Dumbledore is gay, 'Harry Potter' author reveals
That would explain his expertise in fairy magic

Britney Spears avoids hit-and-run trial
Still has to deal with Hit-and Run marriage consequences

Critics blast 'namby-pamby' obesity ads
Tougher ads in future will ask "Are you so fat that you have your own zip code? Do smaller fatsos orbit you? When you go to a restaurant do they give you an estimate instead of a menu? You could have a weight problem Lardo!"

Winehouse held for drug possession
They tried to make her go to rehab but she said "No No No..."

Wildfires Bring Serious Health Dangers
Being burnt to a crisp being the biggest

Giuliani: I could end illegal immigration in three years
Bold plan requires annexation of Canada and Mexico

That's it for this edition of Headlines. Stay tuned for more headliney goodness!
Technorati tag: Humor   Headlines

UK Couple Lose Foster Child for Not Teaching Gay Is OK

I found out about this over at Stop the ACLU. It seems that a Christian couple will no longer be able to care for foster children.Foster child to be taken away because Christian couple refuse to teach him about homosexuality:

They are devoted foster parents with an unblemished record of caring for almost 30 vulnerable children. But Vincent and Pauline Matherick will this week have their latest foster son taken away because they have refused to sign new sexual equality regulations.

The authorities took an 11-year-old boy from the couple and removed them from the list of available foster parents. What did they object to?

Earlier this year, Somerset County Council's social services department asked them to sign a contract to implement Labour's new Sexual Orientation Regulations, part of the Equality Act 2006, which make discrimination on the grounds of sexuality illegal.

Officials told the couple that under the regulations they would be required to discuss same-sex relationships with children as young as 11 and tell them that gay partnerships were just as acceptable as heterosexual marriages

The couple are devout Christians who belive as I do that homosexuality is a sin and contrary to the Word of God. The couple prior to this had cared for 28 foster children and were exemplary parents. But because they won't go along with the liberal agenda they have been denied access to foster children. They can't even keep their foster son until they find a permanent home. Officials will remove the child tomorrow and put him in a temporary shelter. There is a severe shortage of foster parents and now those with any kind of religious beliefs are being driven from the program with these types of regulations. The couple will fight this with the help of Christian lawyers.

We are losing the fight Christians! The Gay agenda in the UK is marching boldly on and grinding Christians under it's boots. How did it get to the point where the state requires you teach kids at a young age that gay and lesbian lifestlyes are normal? This couple's objection on religious grounds was brushed aside by the powers that be. We are headed down that same path here in America. You had better speak up now Christian while you still have the right to do so.

Thursday Thirteen #53

13 Things About Dane Bramage
13 Tidbits of Wisdom
The internet is great. Where else can you find priceless gems of wisdom? This week, inspired by Scott who sent me an email, I went out to the vast world wide web and made a half vast effort to cull 13 pearls of wisdom. So here they are for you.

1. Birthdays are good for you; the more you have the longer you live.


2. Avoid cutting yourself slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold while you chop.


3. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink.


4. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, then you will be too afraid to cough.


5. Everyone should have a spouse, because there are a number of things that go wrong that one can't blame on the government.


6. The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.


7. There will always be death and taxes; however, death doesn't get worse every year.


8. God grant me the Senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, The good fortune to run into the ones I do, And the eyesight to tell the difference..


9. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.


10. When choking on an ice cube, simply pour a cup of boiling water down your throat. Presto! The blockage will instantly remove itself.


11. You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.


12. Some people are like slinkies. Not really good for anything but they bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.


13. Time may be a great healer, but it's also a rotten beautician.

I can just smell the wisdom oozing from you. If you have a pearl to share leave it in the comments.

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

San Francisco Considers Allowing You to Shoot Up Dope Without Consquences

Well the liberal agenda marches on. In an effort to mimic other "progressive nations, San Francisco considers opening up an injection room. The Associated Press has this story:

Hoping to reduce San Francisco's high rate of fatal drug overdoses, the public health department co-sponsored a symposium on the only such facility in North America, a four-year-old Vancouver site where an estimated 700 intravenous users a day self-administer narcotics under the supervision of nurses

700 dopers a day go to a public funded medical facility and shoot up dope. That just oozes compassion to me. Let's not get these people to see that they have a problem they need to kick, let's help them not overdose so they can stay addicted. Fortunately there were some raised eyebrows.

Bertha Madras, deputy director of demand reduction for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, called San Francisco's consideration of such a facility "disconcerting" and "poor public policy."

"The underlying philosophy is, 'We accept drug addiction, we accept the state of affairs as acceptable,'" Madras said. "This is a form of giving up."

Poor public policy indeed. The mayor's approval is necessary for any plan of this nature to go forward. The advocates of this lunacy plan to work on him because currently he is not too keen on the idea.

The mayor's spokesman, Nathan Ballard, said Thursday that although he does not want to discourage debate, he "is not inclined to support this program because, quite frankly, it may create more problems than it supposedly addresses."

But agian the liberals look to others as an example. The Vancouver room is described:

The site, exempt from federal drug laws so users can visit without fear of arrest, has 12 private booths where addicts inject drugs such as heroin, cocaine or crystal. They can use equipment and techniques provided by the staff, and then relax with a cup of coffee or get medical attention in the "chill out" room where they are observed, said program coordinator Sarah Evans.

"It looks kind of like a hair salon," Evans said of the bustling space. "If we were a restaurant, we would be making a profit."

Yeah except restaurants don't tell you to bring your own food so they can make sure you don't croak after eating. That and the typical restaurant goer isn't likely to rob your house or mug you for cash for their next fix of food.

While 800 overdoses have occurred on the premises, none resulted in death because of the medical supervision provided at InSite, said Thomas Kerr, a University of British Columbia researcher who has extensively studied the program. His research also has shown an increase in addicts seeking drug treatment and a decrease in abandoned syringes, needle-sharing, drug-related crime and other problems since the clinic opened, he said.

Sounds very counter-intuitive. How do they attribute all of this to the opening of one drug room? Death by overdose is currently on the decline in San Francisco so if the trend continues after they open a drug room will they claim it was because of it? I am always leery of the findings of researchers with such a vested interest. It isn't likely that they would find that opening a drug room has a negative impact when their name is tied to the success.

I really can't get behind a program like this. It promotes all the wrong things and condones drug use. I don't care how many addicts survive their overdoses because of it. Maybe that very fact would encourage them to take larger doses. The State would be right there in case they get into trouble. The whole point of this is not to save junkies. it is to move us closer to legalized drug use in America. There is only one drug room in North America. The other sixty-four are in Europe. Why do the liberals insist on dragging America in the direction of countries we fought to get away from?

No Dominoes Pizza Tonight

Steve over at The Sneeze posted about the ability to order Dominoes pizza online.

Regardless of your feelings about Domino's, the fact that you can order it online without having to talk to a human being is fantastic.

Type a little on your computer and magically a pizza shows up at your door. It's the closest thing we have to Star Trek's food synthesizer. Only it takes about 25 minutes to work. And the food delivery unit at my Domino's has a bad mustache.

I was all set to order a pizza. I went to their site and attempted to register and was told that the store that services my area does not yet accept online orders. I am crushed. I have half a mind to call them up and ask them what their problem is. Why are they so far behind the technology curve?!

Tonight was going to be a Blockbuster night(I rarely go to blockbuster anymore but I still call a night of home movie watching a blockbuster night). Pizza goes great with DVD watching. Alas I guess it was not meant to be.


Oh BTW I have been ordering Papa Johns Pizza online for two years.

Thursday Thirteen #52

13 Things About Dane Bramage

13 Comic Books That Became Movies
The whole Iron Man movie thing got me to thinking about comics and movies so I decided to make a list of 13 comic book heroes that were made into movies.

1. Captain America IMDb link This film sucked horribly. The best thing in it was Ronny Cox. They are scheduled to make another one although I understand that in the current comic line Captain America is dead. Go figure.



2. Punisher (IMDb Link1 IMDb Link2) Didn't see the 1989 version with Lou Gossett Jr. and Dolph Lungren? Don't worry it went straight to video in this country. Before the release though I snagged a copy of the film released in Japan. It had Japanese subtitles. The 2004 version was high budget but I thought the Punisher was too cruel and sadistic.



3. Fantastic Four (IMDb Link)Unbeknownst to most there are three Fantastic Four movies. The latest two were great. The first sucked so bad they never intended it to be shown.



4. Spiderman (IMDb Link) Marvel finally got it right with a big name hero. Three major successes following a mediocre television series.



5. Hulk (IMDb Link) Here we have the opposite. A mediocre (but big CGI budget) movie after a long running successful television show.



6. Blade (IMDb Link)I think this really gave Marvel some confidence in the whole comic book to movie idea. Blade was a huge stylish success with two sequels.



The Rest of the post is below the fold. Go to the end of the post and click "We want to read more!"


7. Daredevil (IMDb Link)One of the few times I enjoyed watching Ben Affleck. I thought the movie was good. Some had a problem with Kingpin being played by Michael Clarke Duncan. Kingpin is a white villain and Michael is a black man. Didn't bother me at all



8. Ghost Rider (IMDb Link)While this was not a bad movie, it was not a sensational movie. They took lots of liberties with the comic story but that happens more often than not in comic movies. Still I will own a copy.



9. Xmen (IMDb Link)I loved the X-Men of the sixties and I loved the more famoous team of the seventies and eighties. I absolutely loved this movie and the second one. The third was okay I just didn't like the fact that they killed so many heroes.



10. Superman (IMDb Link)My all time number one favorite comic movie of all time. I was blown away as a teen watching it in the theater. I loved the second movie too! The third was okay the forth was boring. Then there was Superman Returns and I say "Why?" It was an abomination, a waste of celluloid. I HATED everything about that flick. The makers should be stoned for their sacriledge.



11. Batman (IMDb Link)Like the Superman franchise, the Batman franchise was a favorite starting with the first and decreasing with each installment. Micheal Keaton was by far my favorite Batman. But where "Superman Returns" sucked canal water, "Batman Begins" excelled! It was awsome.



12. Ultraviolet (IMDb Link)Probabbly would have been better titled "Ultra Violent". It was non-stop fight scenes. All flash and no substance.



13. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IMDb Link) I actually had issue #2 of TMNT and people thought I was crazy. Then they were everywhere. That comic would be worth lots of money now. They did live action movies in the eighties plus cartoons. The last film was all CGI.

There are others, some made just for TV some made just for video. There's Aeon Flux, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Electra, Catwoman, Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD, Transformers, and Mystery Men to name a few. Name some more in the comments.

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

What Do You Mean He's Black?

I noticed in the credits for the upcoming Iron Man Movie that the role of Nick Fury will be played by Samuel L. Jackson. Well old school comic fans like myself remember that Colonel Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a white man. He was a white man when he was Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandoes too. But in the Ultimate Avengers series he is an African American. And this has cause some issues with comic purists. They don't seem to feel it is right to reimagine Nick Fury as an African American. But who to blame? It would be wrong to blame Hollywood because this movie is following a growing trend in the comics industry to PC-ize old minor and supporting heroes. Heroes who were once white males are being replaced by African Americans, Asians and Hispanics. Some are being replaced by women.

I am not quite sure if I approve of this trend. But I haven't followed comics for over a decade. The comic companies claim to be reaching out to minorities. But minorities are not a big part of the comic reading demographic. I suppose that supports the comic companies actions if you believe the lack of minority readership is due to to a lack of minority heroes. But if Bruce Wayne suddenly died and a Hispanic teen stepped in and took up the mantle of Batman, would more Hispanics read it? But that will never happen. They will never change the major players, Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Wonder Woman. So is changing just the minor characters sending the wrong message?

Actually Samuel L. as Fury isn't so bad in my book. The Ulltimate Avengers has had a Black Nick Fury for five or so years now. A neat piece of trivia mentioned on the IMDb site:

In an issue of the Marvel comic Ultimates (the Ultimate version of the Avengers, of which Iron Man is a member) the eponymous superheroes discuss who could play them in a possible movie, and Nick Fury (who is African-American in the Ultimate reality and artistically based on Sam Jackson, bearing a striking resemblance throughout the entirety of the series) says the only actor who could portray him is Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson plays Fury in this film

Still you could always go back and have David Hasselhoff reprise his role as Nick Fury: Agent of Shield (1998)(TV)

That'll teach ya.

I Am Very Well Unread

Okay I saw this meme over at Starrlight's blog and thought it would be cool to at least attempt it. Afterwards I felt so unread I am a little embarrassed.
The meme rules are:
Bold those you've read.
Italicize books you have started but couldn't finish.
Add an asterisk* to those you have read more than once.
Underline those on your To Be Read list.

Since my style sheet and various formatting don't go well together I thought I would just color code everything.

Anyway here is the legend

Blue Titles are books I have read.
Cyan Titles are books that I started but never finished.
Green Titles are those I plan to read someday maybe when I retire and have extra time or not.
White Titles are those I have heard about or know so much about I don't plan to read the book.


The List:
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi: A Novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
The rest are below the fold. Go to the end of the post and click "We want to read more!"
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid (In Latin)
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

Some of these I have never heard of before. If you want to participate just copy the list and show us what you read.

It Wouldn't Be So Bad If the Theme Song Wasn't So Dated

Dave's favorite superhero. In theaters May 02, 2008.

Personaly I thought Milestone's/DC's Hardware was much cooler. I would definitely go see a movie about Hardware.

Deep in Thought Today

I was just reminiscing the other day about a very special spiritual episode of a very deep television show. In a highly dramatic turn of events the hero was struck by a taxi. In the hospital he is surrounded by his friends and loved ones all of whom fondly relate their favorite memories of our hero. As he lies there near death he sees a light. Suddenly, a flash of lightning, a clap of thunder and there is a person standing there.


"Who are you?"

"I am the part of you that lives on after you die."

"You're my student loan?"


Ah Herman's Head. What a deep spiritual show. Anyway I was thinking about that because of issues I am having with my student loan. My God I am nearly fifty years old and I am still paying on it! Is there no end in sight? Sheesh. Had I known that it was going to be like this I would have gotten a stupid degree.